Hi! I've recently made it a goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. My marathon PR is currently just under four hours, and I'm hoping that by training smarter and harder I can lower that significantly. I'm 37, so I'm working toward a huge 45-minute improvement. This group is for runners who haven't yet qualified, and for veterans who have advice to share. Carl

Hi Stephen, Thanks for joining the group, and welcome! Because you recently did a 20-miler at 9:43 pace (great job!), in good race conditions you should have no problem reaching the 4:20 goal. From there, I think that reaching consistent 8-min miles (for a 3:30 marathon) will take a significant amount of hard work, and may take over a year. For both of us, Boston is a reachable but lofty ambition. I'm slowly ramping up my mileage so that I can qualify in 2008 for the '09 Boston. If that doesn't happen, then I'm going to keep training until the age allowances make it possible! For me, I think that improving to a BQ time is a matter of taking a few months to increase my average of 20 weekly miles to 60-70, and then starting interval workouts in the spring. However, one of the reasons I've started this group is because I'm looking for additional ideas. Good luck in your training for Richmond--my neighbor ran that marathon several years ago, and loved it!

Hi guys! This seems to be the perfect group for me. I have done 8 M's and did my last in May 5.4 seconds late for BQ time. Finishing time was 3:31:05.4 My next attempt is on Sunday Oct 14 in Toronto. I am 45 and have during my 4 years of running reduced the gap by 47 minutes. Today all systems are go. Tapering is going well, weather forcast is perfect nice and coooool. Legs are OK. The course is net downhill but have a long uphill towards the finish line and a brutal hill in the beginning. Since January 2007 I have been trying to train according to Hal Higdons Advanced II Marathon training plan. I will keep you posted. And I wish all of you with upcoming races good luck. Cheers Arne

This spring I started running 5 or 6 six days a week and one or two of them were hills and speedwork. I think that did most of it. Milage also of course. It remains to be seen on Sunday if it was enough though! Good luck in Richmond in November! Arne

I am tapering from a Pfitz 18/55 plan. Race day is October 21 and my first marathon. My BQ time is 3:20, my goal is 3:30ish.

Just wanted to say hi and good luck to everyone here in their upcoming marathons...And for achieving your BQ times! I qualified this past year at the Country Music Marathon here in Nashville and am headed to Boston this April. I don't know if I have any astounding advice--But I'd be glad to join in any discussions. Right now, I'm nearing my peak for a Nov. 18th marathon (the dreaded and insane Flying Monkey ), so I need some friendly and supportive chat to join in on... Good luck everyone!

Hi Stephen! Well, making any kind of announcement about shooting for a certain time in the Monkey is probably a bad idea...You know, what with the monkeys lurking in the trees at mile 25 and all.... But if I were going to be an utter fool (and optimistic), I'd like to do it under 4 hours. Don't tell anyone.

Hello all! My goal is as well to run the "superbowl" of all marathons one day. I started running in May 2004 and trained for the Seattle Marathon in November 2004. I ran a HM that year in 1:57. For the Seattle Marathon I came in at 4:59:49. The Full marathon time does not correlate to my Half marathon performance at all = missing endurance. Back then after my long runs I was really hurting. These types of pains have gone away. My aerobic base has gotten better. My running muscles stronger. I will enter the 35 age category this year and will need a BQ of 3:45. Right now I am training for the Seattle Half this November. My next goal is the Vancouver Marathon in May 2008. This will be the real indicator of my performance. When I trained for Seattle in 2004 I only did one 20 miler (and bonked). Long runs that felt uncomfortable back then are now fine. When I train for the Vancouver Full - I definitely want to do at least 3 long runs in the 20 - 23 mile range. Good luck to everyone and I look forward to the discussions in this group!